MANILA— The Philippine government has committed to the promotion of the gender mainstreaming process within the pillars of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) by sharing the Philippine Gender-Fair Media Guidebook to all ASEAN member states for review.
“Following the initiative of the ASEAN Commission on Women (ACW) in mainstreaming gender in the other sectoral bodies of ASEAN, we hope to enjoin SOMRI (Senior Officials Responsible for Information) to task its working groups to develop projects that would help promote gender equality and women empowerment in the region,” Communications Undersecretary Lorraine Badoy said in a text message.
SOMRI is within the ASEAN Ministers Responsible for Information (AMRI) tasked with raising ASEAN awareness among people of Southeast Asia.
SOMRI and the ASEAN Senior Officials Meeting for Culture and Arts (SOMCA) acknowledged that all ASEAN member-states have Code of Ethics for media but not all have specific guidelines for gender-fair media.
During the parallel breakout sessions by at least 12 sectoral bodies at the Senior Officials Conference on Gender Mainstreaming in the ASEAN Socio-Cultural Community (ASCC), SOMRI together with the SOMCA identified the need for further guidance from the ACW.
Badoy said the Philippines will cooperate with the ACW to further identify where the country as a member of the SOMRI can advance gender sensitivity in designing policies within the sector.
“We hope to have closer collaboration in the future with the ACW so we could identify areas where we can cooperate and work together in the advancement of women’s rights,” she said. (PNA)
